Bio

Peter Budaj Bio

There is something to be said for a goaltender who has experience starting in the NHL and the humility needed to accept a backup role. Budaj has combined both over a long career in which he became the first Slovakia-born goalie to win 100 NHL games.

Selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round (No. 63) in the 2001 NHL Draft, Budaj made his League debut Oct. 8, 2005, stopping 16 of 18 shots in a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars. He got his first NHL shutout March 12, 2006, stopping 33 shots in a 3-0 win against the Calgary Flames. He ranked sixth among NHL rookies in the 2005-06 season with 14 wins, the second most by a rookie goalie in franchise history.

There is something to be said for a goaltender who has experience starting in the NHL and the humility needed to accept a backup role. Budaj has combined both over a long career in which he became the first Slovakia-born goalie to win 100 NHL games.

Selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round (No. 63) in the 2001 NHL Draft, Budaj made his League debut Oct. 8, 2005, stopping 16 of 18 shots in a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars. He got his first NHL shutout March 12, 2006, stopping 33 shots in a 3-0 win against the Calgary Flames. He ranked sixth among NHL rookies in the 2005-06 season with 14 wins, the second most by a rookie goalie in franchise history.

A participant in the 2007 YoungStars Game in his second season in the League, Budaj set a franchise record by going 16 games without a regulation loss (13-0-3) from Feb. 24-April 5, 2007. He also tied the franchise record for wins in a month with 10 in March 2007, and finished 2006-07 as the third goalie in franchise history to win 30 games in a season.

Budaj made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut April 24, 2008, in Game 1 of the second round against the Detroit Red Wings. He relieved Jose Theodore with the Avalanche trailing 4-1 and stopped all 20 shots he faced in a 4-3 loss. He would make two more relief appearances in the series.

After signing as a free agent with the Montreal Canadiens on July 1, 2011, Budaj served as a reliable backup for Carey Price for three seasons. He won eight straight decisions from Feb. 16-April 27, 2013, and made his first NHL playoff start that season in Game 5 of Montreal's first-round series with the Ottawa Senators.

Budaj played 19 games for St. John's of the American Hockey League in 2014-15 before signing a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 9, 2015. He was named the AHL's top goalie in 2015-16, going 42-14-5 for Ontario.